Weight in Devils' basketball win

South Lenoir's Jonte Midgette (35) goes in for the layup in Tuesday night's game against East Duplin at South Lenoir High School.

Sara Pezzoni / The Free Press

By Justin Hill / Correspondent

Published: Wednesday, December 18, 2013 at 06:58 PM.

DEEP RUN — Whether a coach or a team will admit it, some games carry a little bit more weight than others — especially when building a successful program. Following South Lenoir’s 76-44 victory over East Duplin, Blue Devils coach Jeremy Barnett admitted that Tuesday night’s game was one of those occasions.

“It’s not just another game,” he said of East Duplin, which is just 20 minutes south of Deep Run.

Through southern Lenoir County, especially in Pink Hill, neighbors are sometimes divided in which of the two school districts they live.

“It carries a little more weight with everybody,” Barnett added. “(Due to that focus), I really thought our approach to the game was what I have been looking for.”

South Lenoir, led by sophomore Dominic Williams with 18 points, nine assists and five steals, left little doubt about who the better team was on the court. The Blue Devils (7-0) opened the game on a 23-6 run, which extended into the second quarter, and led 44-11 at halftime.

“I wish I could have had more,” Williams said of his game-high nine assists. “This was probably the best game I ever had, sometimes you have good games and this was one of them.”

Barnett agreed about Williams’ performance and said, as a team, the first half was the best 16 minutes the Blue Devils have played all season. At halftime, he knew that keeping up the effort in the second half would be a test of his undefeated squad after such a flawless first half.

DEEP RUN — Whether a coach or a team will admit it, some games carry a little bit more weight than others — especially when building a successful program. Following South Lenoir’s 76-44 victory over East Duplin, Blue Devils coach Jeremy Barnett admitted that Tuesday night’s game was one of those occasions.

“It’s not just another game,” he said of East Duplin, which is just 20 minutes south of Deep Run.

Through southern Lenoir County, especially in Pink Hill, neighbors are sometimes divided in which of the two school districts they live.

“It carries a little more weight with everybody,” Barnett added. “(Due to that focus), I really thought our approach to the game was what I have been looking for.”

South Lenoir, led by sophomore Dominic Williams with 18 points, nine assists and five steals, left little doubt about who the better team was on the court. The Blue Devils (7-0) opened the game on a 23-6 run, which extended into the second quarter, and led 44-11 at halftime.

“I wish I could have had more,” Williams said of his game-high nine assists. “This was probably the best game I ever had, sometimes you have good games and this was one of them.”

Barnett agreed about Williams’ performance and said, as a team, the first half was the best 16 minutes the Blue Devils have played all season. At halftime, he knew that keeping up the effort in the second half would be a test of his undefeated squad after such a flawless first half.

“I told them at halftime, when I look at this team, that’s what I envision this basketball team can be,” he said. “Now it’s just a matter of seeing it consistently.”

While South Lenoir didn’t defensively dominate the second half, they did stretch the lead to as high as 43 early in the fourth quarter before Barnett pulled his starters.

When Williams sat with about six minutes left in the game, he asked to be put back in for his 10th assist.

“He can see things on the court that other people can’t see,” Barnett said of William’s vision and awareness while leading the point.

South Lenoir finished the game 16-of-22 at the free throw line.

Jonte Midgette had 12 points for the Blue Devils, while Luke Whaley and Jadarius Mickens added 11. Jaquan Wooten was the only other Blue Devil in double digits scoring.

East Duplin’s scoring was led by Nicholas Williams with 11 points.

The Devils played at Southwest Onslow Wednesday and will visit East Duplin Friday.

Girls’ game:

South Lenoir trailed by three at the half, 24-21, but outscored the Panthers by 18 in the second half to earn the 58-43 victory against their former East Central 2A rival.

“We came in (at the half) and talked about the things we were doing right,” Blue Devils coach Donald Mooring said. “We were trying to do too much, too fast. We slowed it down (in the second half) and honestly (Demeyia Adams) and Marquia (Suddeth) took over.”

Suddeth and Adams combined for 44 points, one more than East Duplin’s game total.